Marcel Chevalier (28 February 1921 in

Montrouge Montrouge () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased agai ...

, Hauts-de-Seine – 8 October 2008 in

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest Communes of France, commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of th ...

) worked as the last chief

executioner An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who effects a sentence of capital punishment on a condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorizing or ordering him to ...

( Monsieur de Paris) in France.

Life

He succeeded his wife's uncle, André Obrecht, in 1976 and held his position until 1981, when

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

was abolished under president

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

and justice minister

Robert Badinter Robert Badinter (; 30 March 1928 – 9 February 2024) was a French lawyer, politician, and author who enacted the abolition of capital punishment in France in 1981, while serving as Minister of Justice under François Mitterrand. He also serve ...

. The method of application of the death penalty for civilian capital offences in France from 1791 to 1981 was beheading with the

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

. Military executions were by

firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...

. Chevalier, who started his executioner's career in 1958, performed about 40 executions. After his appointment as chief executioner on 1 October 1976, he executed only two people. They were the last two executions in France: *

Jérôme Carrein Jérôme Henri Carrein (; 2 July 1941 – 23 June 1977) was the second-to-last convicted criminal to be executed by guillotine in France. On 27 October, 1975 in Arleux, Northern France, Carrein, who was the father of five children and often ...

, condemned twice for the murder and rape of an eight-year-old girl, was guillotined on 23 June 1977 in

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

. *

Hamida Djandoubi Hamida Djandoubi (; 22 September 1949 – 10 September 1977) was a Tunisian convicted murderer sentenced to death in France. He moved to Marseille in 1968, and six years later he was convicted of the kidnapping, torture and murder of 21-year-old ...

, for having tortured and strangled his former nurse, was guillotined on 10 September 1977 in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. Chevalier worked as a printer after his retirement. He was married to Marcelle Obrecht with whom he had two children. His son Éric was present at Carrein's and Djandoubi's executions in order to prepare him for succession to chief executioner upon his father's eventual retirement. Chevalier was interviewed by the press on a number of occasions, but later, disillusioned by the sensationalist nature of press coverage, chose to say nothing of his experiences with the guillotine.

References

External links

Biography
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Marcel 1921 births 2008 deaths People from Montrouge French executioners